And how about API wallet support for Ethereum? Not my favorite coin by any means, but I do have some in a couple addresses and it is the second top ranked coin on Coin MarketCap. I can't imagine I'm the only one who would benefit from ETH API support.

I do thank you for giving API support for DMD Diamond, one of my favorite coins

It is certainly true that the lower entry barrier for investing is true without ICOs. As you said people can buy DNotes or any other cryptocoin directly from an exchange. I've bought into one or two ICOs and for the most part I've learned that the coin tends to lose value as soon as it starts getting traded on exchanges. It may or may not appreciate in value later, but you have time to study it and watch the market to find a good entry point. So if I'm interested in a coin, I often will just wait until its ICO is done and it goes on the exchange and then wait some more. If I still want it, then I'll buy it, but I'll admit a lot of times I sort of forget about it.

Since a lot of exchanges host ICOs, my hope is that increased regulation (or crack down) of ICOs doesn't jeopardize people's ability to acquire ordinary cryptocoins on exchanges.

I appreciate that required registration is how you get full disclosure and continue reporting information. It can also be prohibitively expensive for new entrepreneurs. I can understand why some of those people are excited about the ICO concept. I'd like to see the best of both, where there is proper disclosure and information to help investors make informed decisions but the cost isn't prohibitive for the startup, and the investor can participate with amounts as low as $10 (and not be required to invest some prohibitively high amount), and where people of all means can participate, not just "accredited investors."

My understanding is Catapult may already be being tested with a few institutions that are using mijin. It won't be opened up for general use until sometime in 2018, depending on the mijin results.

Legalities aside, the thing I like about cryptocurrencies in general and to some extent applicable to ICOs is the much lower entry barrier for those of modest means to invest in something that very well could improve their financial lives in a way that wouldn't be possible otherwise.

If I only have $100 to invest, I can buy an undervalued cryptocurrency and maybe I'll end up sitting on something worth $10,000 or more. Cryptocurrencies basically make investments fungible enough for poor people to participate. $100 too much for you? You can also just invest $10 or $5. Remember in the early days of CryptoMoms when we were encouraging each other to give up your Starbucks Latte and use the money you save to buy DNotes? Well, with DNotes and some other coins, that kind of small investment really could make a big difference.

So when I hear about the SEC cracking down more on ICOs and other things related to cryptocurrency I worry that this door for poor people might get slammed shut. I hope that doesn't happen, and I'm grateful that this door was open for me.

That said, I also believe that people and entities promoting investments need to be honest about what they are promoting. Many ICOs have been shady and those poor people who have little or those middle class people who give up their weekly lattes at the very least deserve to know that what they are putting their money into has every reasonable chance of being successful (though one can never guarantee such things). There should be some protection from charlatans running ICOs that do nothing but scam people out of their money--at least in the form of full disclosure about fundamentals so that an informed investor of any social or economic class can make a good decision.

I just hope that the protection afforded investors does not also make it more difficult or impossible for people to participate. For example, I really hate how so many investments in the US are only available to accredited investors. You can invest in this wonderful promising startup and possibly get rich. Oh wait. You already have to be rich in order to get the chance.

I hope we can maintain the fungibility of cryptocurrencies and ICOs where investors can buy any amount, no amount too small, while still building in some reasonable standards of solid fundamentals that those seeking to raise funds for their ventures have to follow.

At the end of the day, though, the responsibility to spend one's own money wisely has to lie with each one of us, regardless of how much we have. There's only so much regulation can do to save us from our own poor financial choices without becoming overly burdensome. I wonder if it wouldn't be a better use of national resources if more funds weren't put towards the proper financial education of children (and adults) instead of towards trying to overregulate entrepreneurs who want to raise funds in the easiest way possible. If the majority of the population were properly educated on financial matters, wouldn't that in and of itself make it more difficult for the charlatans to raise funds?

Deferred staking is a brilliant idea! I love it! NEM has a similar concept with delegated harvesting. The best part about it is that my coins can be harvesting even with my wallet closed up.

I agree. There are plenty of opportunities in the cryptocurrency industry for men and women, and even older children and teenagers.

Thanks for that information, especially on the amount you'd need for weekly vs. daily rewards. Will staking be able to happen within the DNotes Vault? Or will it be necessary to have our own desktop wallets for that?

Weirdly enough, because of the DNotes Vault, I've never actually owned my own DNotes wallet. I'm not sure what I'll do after the big switch.

I think that about sums it up. They may be a little harsh about the marketing, though. There certainly are plenty of channels to get news about NEM, and the Inside NEM series on YouTube is very informative. There's certainly no lack of marketing materials. I'm also starting to see major news outlets like CNN mention NEM every so often, so I think it's starting to catch on. One Dollar may be the dip to buy on before too long.

The market seems to be taking care of itself alright. I kinda hope it doesn't move up too quickly as I'm still in buying/accumulation mode

I would LOVE it if you guys could add API wallet support for STEEM, SBD and XEM. XEM is in the top 9 on CMC so I don't see any reason for it to not be supported.

I bet that explains the recent rise in DNotes' price. Great job!

And Merry Christmas to all!

I think that part of your post is worth singling out. So many people miss it, but the cryptocurrency industry is primarily one of networking. If all you see is the price of Bitcoin you miss out. If all you focus on is the technology, you miss out. It's about the people who develop the technology and whose accomplishments impact the price of digital currencies, and about the relationships you make and what you learn from each of the people you connect with.

I look at fundamentals in choosing whether or not to invest in a coin, but at the end of the day, every coin I hold, I probably bought it or earned it because of a relationship I developed with someone who was either involved in developing it or really liked it or someone I met in the process of checking out the fundamentals.

I am so right there with you. I don't think I've put any money on a new coin is at least six months. I have a tough time just keeping track of the coins I'm already in, and I do periodically buy more of those.

I'm turning into such a crypto old fogey... A veritable dinosaur LOL. All my coins are at least a year old, most of them pushing 3 or 4!

Merry Christmas, All! All of us who hold any amount of NEM are in a happy place

I think Steemit is a good model to look at as far as the getting paid for writing concept goes. Participate in it (I know you already do, develcuy), study it, figure out a way to do it better, and then compete...

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I think you may be right about a top notch exchange costing millions of dollars to set up. If anyone can do it, DNotes Global can. Good customer service is an absolute necessity, but tough to keep up with when you're growing rapidly. I think you have to over-hire tech support reps and consider it good when at times some of them are standing around doing nothing.

Congratulations on the Geneca partnership!

And Merry Christmas to you and yours!

It bugs me that people are quick to blame Roger Ver's public statements (or anyone else's) for Bitcoin's major price correction, which it was due for anyway. I agree that the way he went about it wasn't exactly professional. That said, Bitcoin really does have some serious flaws. Someone famous or not famous should be able to speak honestly about those flaws without being called a traitor to the cause. Ultimately, Bitcoin will need to address its weaknesses and adapt or it will over time work its way into obsolescence. Regardless of what Jamie Dimon and Roger Ver say or don't say, 17+ minute block confirm times, $20 transaction fees, and lack of scalability are simply not going to work. So you either address these issues right in the code, or you look for a good opportunity to sell any holdings or use them to buy other coins with better technology. Although I go through Bitcoin to make my trades like everyone else, it's been several years since I've had any significant BTC holdings. Recognizing its inherent problems has been part of the reason.

I recently went to see a local accountant with some knowledge of cryptocurrencies and he advised me to count every trade as a taxable event, so I was already figuring I'd have to do that when I filed for this year. My impression was that the like kind trade was always questionable but I'm a novice to the whole tax compliance department... learning as I go here.

Wow! A one month holiday break? Did they do this last year?

Are you looking for some free cryptos?

There is a NEM airdrop going on for people who sign up for WeChat and add the NEM wallet extension.

If you have a cell phone, follow the instructions on this video. Be especially careful about keeping your passwords and private keys safe and accessible to you as there is no way to recover them.

I'm not sure how long the airdrop will last, so don't wait too long!

That's awesome. Congratulations! What a tremendous asset to the DNotes project!

I've been working really hard pulling together transaction records from my cryptocurrency adventure so that I can include that information on my tax return. And I can think of things that could be done to make that job easier, some of which DNotes already does. The biggest one is to have a block explorer that allows data export. API support is also important. I have a few coins whose block explorers don't have those features, and let me tell you that spells H E A D A C H E!

I may or may not be making future investment decisions based in part on block explorer features... not that I'm complaining. My NEM holdings definitely justify the headache. Still, why not remove it anyway right from the start.

My larger point here is that part of what I think should be taken into account with development is tax compliance made simple with DNotes. A lot of coin devs don't think that's important, but it really is.